Space Development Agency’s first satellites demo key capabilities

Following a successful optical communications test this week, the Space Development Agency’s first batch of data-transport and missile-tracking satellites have met all of the agency’s demonstration targets, according to director Derek Tournear.

The agency started launching its Tranche 0 demonstration satellites in April 2023 and today has 27 spacecraft in orbit. The systems are meant to observe and collect information on missiles launches and transport data in space and with users on the ground. They’ll also reduce development risks for future SDA satellites.

This week’s test involved two satellites, built by SpaceX, connecting via a laser-communication link through SDA-compliant terminals. The test met the agency’s requirement that the spacecraft make a connection in less than two minutes, Tournear said Wednesday at the Defense News Conference in Arlington.

In essence, the demo showed that SDA’s transport satellites can form an optical network in low Earth orbit.

“From my perspective, we have demonstrated all of the big rocks and burned down all of the risk for Tranche 1 in Tranche 0 based on that success,” Tournear said.

Among the other demonstration hurdles was demonstrating the ability to establish a Link 16 connection from space . Link 16 is a tactical communications system that U.S. forces, NATO and international allies rely on for real-time data exchange. During a demonstration last November, SDA used three satellites from its Transport Layer, all built by Denver-based York Space Systems . The Air Force’s 46th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, supported the mission from the ground.

In early August, SDA pushed the capability further, making a Link 16 connection with an aircraft carrier and a plane on its deck.

Both Link 16 tests were over international waters or airspace as the agency awaits approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration to use Link 16 to broadcast signals from space through the National Airspace System. Tournear said SDA hopes to have those approvals and conduct U.S. tests this year, adding that the FAA’s conservative approach, while prudent, has created schedule issues for the agency.

“It has an impact and it will impact Tranche 1 as we go forward, when we actually want to be able to do a lot of demonstrations after launch to be able to get operational acceptance,” he said.

The other major test for SDA’s Tranche 0 satellites concerns the ability to track missile launches from low Earth orbit . Skeptics thought the clutter in LEO, which is about 1,200 miles above Earth, would make it too hard to spot a dim missile target. However, Tournear said, the agency has used its first handful of tracking satellites to spot a variety of missiles and rocket launches, including SpaceX’s Starship.

The SDA satellites have yet to detect a U.S. hypersonic flight test, but Tournear said his team is working closely with the Missile Defense Agency to find opportunities for the spacecraft to track a flight.